How do people in Gaza overcome communication blackouts? | Program

Based on the situation faced by residents Gaza Strip Due to the lack of communication, which is one of the biggest problems they face, a campaign was launched to provide them with virtual SIM cards. They provided thousands of virtual SIM cards to the residents of the Gaza Strip to contact their families. They also gave them Leave it to the reporters working there.

A virtual SIM card (called an “eSIM”) is a code that connects to the phone, so if there’s a telco available nearby, it connects to the satellite and the mobile becomes a cellular line or internet plan.

Foreign donors can purchase a SIM card and use apps such as “Eralo”, “Normad” and “Mogo” to send their number to people in the Gaza Strip and then choose to activate the integrated SIM card.

But it requires a modern phone to work properly and broadcast the signal to people around them, while users of older phones can get connected another way by using a “VPN” program.

People living in the northern part of the Gaza Strip have access to these SIM cards the closer they are to Israeli communication towers such as Cellcom’s, while people in the southern part of the Gaza Strip closer to the Egyptian border can benefit from the fact that they can receive signals from Egyptian service towers. Performance is better.

In today’s program (21/22/2023), the Shabakat Project monitors one aspect of the interaction of the initiative to communicate with the residents of Gaza, including Nafisa Bakughti who writes: “I feel like I am at the moment of connecting the lines to Gaza” I Met a guy there and he sent me a message telling me that the SIM card was working and that he was talking to me on the SIM card. “A feeling that can’t be described in words… God, please use us and do something. Can’t replace us.”

Ahmed saw that “the problem with SIM cards is that they can only be activated on a limited number of devices and, unfortunately, only on new devices,” adding, “May God grant you success and Best wishes to you always, even if the original equipment is old.” Basically introduce the pressure of fuel any way possible. “

Jana, for her part, expressed her feelings after handing the SIM card to a beneficiary in Gaza, saying: “This is the only thing we can do to help them, it’s a sad thing, we can Change it in our own way.” Sultan Kamal called on Telecom Egypt in a tweet to “step up broadcasting in border areas to benefit the besieged people of Gaza.”

“And it’s organized.”Human Rights WatchShe stressed that blocking or restricting internet access in the Gaza Strip “violates multiple rights, can be deadly during a crisis, provides cover for atrocities and leads to impunity”.